King-Church Relationship in the Medieval Period

During the era described by Gregory of Tours, the church was in the process of establishing itself in Europe and was working on guiding the people and their leaders slowly away from the pagan ideologies that had prevailed to that time. Religion is a major theme in the book by Gregory, which is not surprising since he himself was a cleric and would become a bishop. He notes how the Christians were persecuted by the Vandals and others: "At this period the churches of God were assailed with a long series of heresies, and quite a few were visited with divine vengeance" (Gregory 113). The teachings of the church did not sway the early rulers of the Franks, such as Childeric, "whose private life was one long debauch" (Gregory 128). Over time, while many of the people may still have viewed members of the church as social inferiors or even as larcenous or immoral because of the behavior of some churchmen, the kings stopped seeing the church as the enemy in the way many of the Frankish leaders and people did.

Relations between the king and the church changed somewhat when Clovis's wife insisted on having her child baptized and on raising the chi

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Son of God, and the Holy Ghost are equal with the Father, and he asked the saintly Bishop of Vienne to arrange for him to be anointed with the chrism in secret" (Gregory 148). The various functions and structures of the church were also being developed and refurbished during this era, as with the celebrations instituted by Mamertus in Vienne (Gregory 149). The King of the Franks offered protection to religion leaders, just as they in turn offered the ruler religious sanction for his rule and his actions. Thus, the church and the political leadership served together as the ruling force, made possible as the doctrines of the church spread and became adopted by different secular leaders. The church was centralized in some respects and not in others. There were sects and groups that were less directly connected to the church hierarchy, such as the nuns who were left without the protection of the church because of Radegund and who finally took refuge in Saint Hilary's church (Gregory 532). The church in the early period was trying to gain devotees and to show its power specifically by gaining royal adherents who could influence their people to follow suit. This is apparent in the story of Clotild and Clovis. Later kings woul
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1218
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)